Graffiti on bridges and buildings on the rise in East Peoria

EAST PEORIA — There is irrefutable evidence that the graffiti marking the abutment of the bridge off Camp Street that leads into the Levee District is relatively fresh:

The new bridge has only been open to traffic since September.

It’s a sign of the times.

“There seems to be a tagging problem going on in the city,” East Peoria resident Mark Laswell told the City Council at its most recent meeting. “It’s something the city is going to have to look at, because it’s only going to multiply.”

City officials agree with Laswell. Spray-painted graffiti on public and private structures and buildings appears to be on the rise in East Peoria. A new apartment complex not far from City Hall. The old Clark gas station by the high school. Abutments of the flyover bridge between West Camp and West Washington streets. Under the U.S. Route 150 bridge by Richland Farms. The back of Costco. The Farm River levee. They all bear the sometimes profane, sometimes incomprehensible, sometimes stupid spray-painted markings of vandals.

“My concern is that it is getting out of hand,” Laswell said.

“It is,” said Robert Cole, the director of the city’s Buildings and Public Property Department.

“We agree,” said Commissioner Gary Densberger.

And while he acknowledges the problem, Deputy police Chief Rich Broderick doesn’t believe it’s the work of gang members “tagging” street territory in East Peoria.

“Nothing I have seen appears to be the work of gangs,” Broderick said. “What we have are hoodlums, working under the cover of darkness. And they are difficult to catch in the act. But we are watching.”

Densberger said there are parallel paths to at least a partial answer to the problem: code enforcement and police work.

“It’s not just a police issue,” he said. “We need to be enforcing codes, the theory being that the better compliance with code issues, the better condition the properties are in makes (graffiti) activity such as this more difficult to perpetuate. We’re trying to work in conjunction with enforcing the codes and the Police Department. And we need the assistance from citizens to get it done.”

Cole said he is in the process of tweaking the city’s ordinances to make property owners responsible for covering the cost of cleaning up graffiti.

“Some of the graffiti has been put up in the last couple of weeks. We need to be able to get to those properties and either fine the (owners) or be able to remove the graffiti and recoup some of the money that’s going to be required to remove the graffiti or cover it up,” Cole said. “We want to make sure we do this in a diligent way.”

Commissioner Chad Joos said he has received recent calls about graffiti in the city.

“It’s discouraging when you see things that are nice and new, and people have made an effort to rehabilitate properties and invest money in them and then somebody comes along and defaces them without any regard for that,” Joos said. “It certainly does reflect poorly on our city having (that graffiti) around. I know it’s a daunting task, but I think it’s up there on the priority list.”

Scott Hilyard can be reached at 686-3244 or shilyard@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @scotthilyard.